Preparing Players to Return to the Game After Lockdown

It’s been a whole year since we have had any sort of routine in our training and a good 6 months since we have been able to train and play competitively with our clubs. Whilst some clubs have been absolutely fantastic as putting on weekly zoom training to keep their players fit and keep their enthusiasm for the sport alive, is it enough to ensure all of your players are ready to return to the court?

If you are one of the clubs that have been putting on zoom training, how many of your members have been attending? This should be a key consideration when planning your first session back as whilst some players might be relatively fit as they have kept active during lockdown, others may have had minimal participation in physical activity and so your session needs to be focused on meeting their ability, not the ability of the players who have consistently trained. Start by planning a session at the basic level and have ideas for progression for those players who are fitter and/or more capable. It can be a good idea to complete basic movement patterns for a certain length of time e.g. 40s work, 20s work. This type of planning naturally differentiates as players will work at their own pace. 

How anxious are your players? Just as there are differing levels of anxiety about the pandemic, there are also differing levels of anxiety for the return to play. Whilst some players are only too excited to jump straight in at the deep end, others may be worrying that they have lost their fitness and are anxious about being shown up on court. I would suggest to keep FUN the focus of the first few sessions back and avoid any sort of fitness testing which might cause some players to feel judged and inadequate. Allow players to socialise and be remined of why they play the game they love. As a coach you will be able to gauge fitness levels from general drills and practices and will be able to alter and adapt future sessions to suit your team. 

See the return as an opportunity to take your team to the next level and to engrain new habits in your players. If the time of can be thanked for anything, it’s that it’s allowed us time to reflect and now is the perfect opportunity to put those thoughts into action. Start your players in a good routine of a through warm up with landing work thrown in and dedicate time at the end of each session to cool down properly with some mobility work, stretching a coach plenary. Whilst these do take up some time, it is so important to helping players to recover properly from their training which will in turn help them to improve their performance, and hopefully also keep them injury free. Why not spend some time with your players teaching them about the components of a good warm up for netball and get them to come up with one of their own they can complete every session and before a match. Not only will this make them more likely to invest in the idea, it’s a great team bonding activity too!